The newest product innovation in the ventilation industry - the modular/field-adjustable (M/FA) fabric duct/diffuser system - promises air distribution installation time reductions of as much as 40 to 80 percent and 15 to 50 percent less material costs, depending on marketplace geography.
Bob has gone on a service call where the customer is complaining that her house is not getting up to temperature. The house was heated with a heat pump with three stages of auxiliary strip heat. Bob removed the panel to the strip heat and found one of the units was not pulling current.
For many employers, properly calculating overtime can feel like an unending process. Factoring in break times can be complicated. Employees who may seem exempt from overtime may actually be entitled to it under the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA). Unfortunately, miscalculating overtime can be costly for companies in terms of fines and lawsuits.
Housing starts declined 4.3 percent to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 529,000 units in the final month of 2010, according to figures released by the U.S. Department of Commerce. However, the year-end data indicate that production of new homes improved 6.1 percent in 2010 over 2009. On another positive note, permit issuance for construction of new homes and apartments rose 16.7 percent in December.
There have been two approaches to capturing the sun’s energy: photovoltaics, to turn sunlight into electricity, or solar thermal systems, to concentrate the sun’s heat to boil water to turn a turbine, or use it directly for hot water or heating. But there’s another approach that was sidelined because nobody found a way to harness it in a practical, economical way.
Thermography uses an infrared camera (thermal imager) to capture two-dimensional representations of the surface temperatures of parts of buildings. Often, those images reveal temperatures or temperature differences that indicate conditions contributing to the waste of heated or cooled air and, as a result, needlessly excessive energy costs.
This troubleshooting situation is a look ahead to the upcoming cooling season. Our customer has called to say that their heat pump “isn’t cooling at all,” and while the outdoor temperature is only in the mid 80’s, it’s quite uncomfortable in the house. You find that the underlying reason is that the compressor and outdoor fan motor aren’t operating.
There are 168 hours in a week. How do you use them? There are 1,440 minutes in a day. How do you use them? Most people waste endless minutes and hours without ever realizing they are doing that. Are you keeping track of your time and using it with purpose?
Bob and Btu Buddy have gotten together for a review of their last service call, which involved a control system that Bob was not very familiar with - pneumatic controls. Bob asked, “Why would anyone want to use air as the power source to operate the controls for a building?”
Desiccant dehumidification is a cost-effective and energy efficient option to reduce a supermarkets’ moisture load to lower energy costs, ensure food safety and customer comfort, and provide the proper amount of fresh outdoor air at the precise temperature and humidity necessary for the space.
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